What Not to Say to an Emerging Reader
. . . and what to say instead
©
2010 teachmama.com
In no particular order —
What Not to Say to an Emerging Reader
:
•
DON’T SAY:
Stop. Re-read this line correctly.
INSTEAD:
If the mistake didn’t interfere with the meaning of thetext (like if it was ‘a’ for ‘the’ or ‘fine’ for ‘fun’) let it go.Do. Not. Interrupt. Your. Child’s. Reading. Period.How would you feel if you were putting your heart out on the line,trying something you weren’t totally comfortable with, in front ofsomeone who you were afraid would challenge you, only to havethat person stop you, interrupt your flow, and make you start over before you even finished?Over and over and over again?Right. So that’s why if your kiddo’s reading and makes a mistake in reading a word, let it go.We want our kids to be comfortable reading with us–we want them to feel safe–so let it go.Just make the correction when you read it the next time.
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DON’T SAY:
C’mon, speed up–you have to read a little faster! OR Slow down–you’re zipping through this!!
INSTEAD:
Model appropriate pacing and fluency.Fluency–or reading with appropriate speed, pacing, and intonation–issomething that is best taught through parent or teacher modeling andtons of reader practice. Seriously. Fluent reading sounds likeconversation, or natural speaking, and it’s something that has to belearned.So if your kiddo is a total speed-reader or if, at this point, she’s as slow as molasses, it’s time toswitch gears. Grab a level-appropriate book and say,
Hey! I found this awesome book for us,and it’s going to be our book this week. We’re going to read this book until we becomeexperts on this book– we’ll be book-reading super-stars by the end of this week, mark myword. . .
And the first day,
you
read the whole thing in its entirety.
And then do an echo read, pageby page. An echo read is really just like an echo–a portion of a text is read and then re-readby a second person (or class if you’re in the classroom). You can echo words, phrases, or whole pages. In this case, with an early-emergent text, it’s great to echo read page-by-page. First, you read a page and then your emerging reader reads that same page. Andthen you read the next page and she reads that very same page, like an echo.
What Not to Say to an Emerging Reader
. . . and what to say instead
©
2010 teachmama.com
And on day two, you read it in its entirety the first time, and then together, you echo readevery two pages.
Or every three pages.
Day three, you read it the first time, and either echo read by three pages or try a chorusread. A chorus read is where you read it together, in unison, like a chorus.
Sometimes theseare hard, but for pacing, it helps.
Day four, you read it the first time then hand the book over to your kiddo for an entire kid-read.
Give her specific praises for her super-star parts:
I really like how you paid closeattention to the punctuation here (point to the specific part). You noticed the question mark,and you knew that meant that [the character] was asking a question, so you made your voice go higher at the end. Awesome.
Maybe on day four, you can tape yourselves reading or put it on video (not a big deal–justgrab your flip cam or camera–it doesn’t have to be a huge, complicated video production)and talk about what sounded great and what you both need to work on.
Day five, it’s showtime.
You both give yourselves ‘practice reads’– start by reading the book yourself and then give it to your child. Then it’s the BEST READ EVER–you both get to go on‘stage’ for the most awesome, perfect, wonderful read ever. Video tape it, audio tape it, or Skype-read with your faraway aunts, cousins, grandparents, or friends. You both practiced allweek–now show off your skills!
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DON’T:
Laugh.
INSTEAD:
Think about something serious and ugly and breathedeeply until you regain composure.Even if your kiddo replaces ‘bat’ with ‘butt’ or ‘fact’ with ‘fart’ don’tlaugh. The fastest way to kill confidence is to have the person a kiddoloves and trusts the most laugh in his face.If you can laugh together, that’s one thing; most likely if your kid is reading aloud and says‘butt’, he’ll break out into hysterics and you will too. But if he’s working hard, concentrating,and trying his best and still managed to make a mistake that tickles your funny bone, then just move on.
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DON’T SAY:
You know this. . .
INSTEAD SAY:
What part of the word do you recognize?
If you get
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